Lorraine Kelly defends Royals Harry and Meghan against critics

Lorraine Kelly defended Prince Harry and Meghan against their critics yesterday and suggested the royals should consider moving to Africa to avoid the flak.

The broadcaster described some of the criticism of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex as “shocking”.

The couple have complained about some media reporting since their marriage and, sources suggest, have considered moving to Cape Town to avoid the attention.

Prince Harry spoke on a recent tour of Africa of his love of Africa and how it “held him in an embrace” when he first visited shortly after the death of his mum Princess Diana.

Kelly said, following criticism of Meghan in particular, the couple should give thought to moving there permanently.

She said: “The amount of abuse that she’s had is absolutely shocking.

“A couple of times they have brought it on themselves, to be fair. It’s that kind of ‘do as I say, not as I do’ thing that you have to be careful about.

“But they really do have the best intentions. It makes me think, ‘Maybe just duck out?’ Maybe it’s best they take a step back and go and live in Africa.”

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Speaking to The Times as her new book, Shine, a blend of autobiography and self-help, is launched, Kelly believes trolling has also affected politics.

She declines to say where she stands on Scottish independence or Brexit, adding, “I just can’t. It’s not worth it”.

But she said of the current confusion which reigns in Westminster: “It’s toxic. Where are the leaders, the great orators?

“Where are the people that went into politics to make a change? I’m talking about people who just have a genuine desire to make life better.”

Speaking about how she appeared less than impressed when asked on screen if she remembered former fellow breakfast presenter Esther McVey, now a Tory MP, Kelly said she’d been annoyed by McVey’s stance on gay rights.

Kelly said: “I don’t even remember her at GMTV. She was on the show before me just filling in for Fiona Phillips.

“But that day she was spouting nonsense. She’d been in the papers talking about LGBT rights and I just thought, ‘No. This is not right’.”

The journalist and host who grew up in a one-room flat in Glasgow’s Gorbals won a place at university to read English and Russian but turned it down for a local newspaper reporting job.

By 30, she was hosting ITV’s Good Morning Britain despite one executive once telling her she’d never have a screen career as, “no one on television speaks like you”.

Despite now being viewed as a national institution after 35 years on breakfast TV, Kelly, 59, admitted there have been many occasions where “we all have to put our game face on” as she faced challenges off-screen.

She said: “There’ve been times when I’ve gone into work, especially this year when my dad was ill, or after I had a miscarriage or went through the menopause, when I lost myself.

“I’m not wanting anybody to feel sorry for me, but those times I was thinking, ‘I’m overwhelmed here.’

“But we’re all like that – you put your smiley face on, and do the job you’re paid to do. Nobody wants you sitting there moaning.”